Finally got home this morning. I drove all night. As much as I love my family, three days of holidays and dinners and exchanging gifts at my mother’s house was plenty of family togetherness for me. But I’m glad I made the trip.

My mom went all out to entertain everyone, but this year my two sisters and I pitched in a lot to keep the kitchen running. I took mom to the grocery store for the last few things and she told me how tired she was. So the three of us took over the kitchen and had mom get off her feet as much as possible. After all, we knew how to cook everything – mom taught us all how to cook!

Almost everyone was on their best behavior. But I swear, you cannot get this many people together in one house without someone getting mad over something. This year it was my brother’s wife who turned out to be the bitch. She is a little bit of a dingbat anyway, but something my mom said must have insulted her – unintentionally – and she went stomping out the door. We were all surprised, as no one heard anything said out of the way. But whatever it was, my brother got the bitch calmed down and they stayed outside for about 20 minutes “to smoke.” When it was time to eat, they came back in and acted like everything was fine, although she sat at the far end of the table away from mom and when they left she barely said thank you before rushing out of the door.

All in all, I’d call it a success. And I’m home again, safe and sound.